This application is related to the following co-pending and commonly-assigned patent applications:
Utility Application Ser. No. 09/070,071, entitled xe2x80x9cAN EXECUTION PARADIGM FOR ACCESSING HIERARCHICAL DATA USING AN OBJECT FRAMEWORK,xe2x80x9d filed on same date herewith, by Kenneth R. Blackman, Shyh-Mei F. Ho, and Thomas Beavers Sander, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,924,101;
Utility Application Ser. No. 09/070,528, entitled xe2x80x9cAN OBJECT-ORIENTED PROGRAMMING MODEL FOR ACCESSING HIERARCHICAL DATABASES,xe2x80x9d filed on same date herewith, by Bach D. Doan and Shyh-Mei F. Ho, now pending;
Utility Application Ser. No. 09/070,273, entitled xe2x80x9cAN INTERNET-ENABLED GENERIC APPLICATION PROGRAM FOR ACCESSING HIERARCHICAL DATA,xe2x80x9d filed on same date herewith, by Bach D. Doan and Shyh-Mei F. Ho, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,128,611;
Utility Application Ser. No. 09/070,273, entitled xe2x80x9cGENERATING AN INTERNET APPLICATION FOR ACCESSING A HIERARCHICAL DATABASE,xe2x80x9d filed on same date herewith, by Attila J. Fogarasi, Shyh-Mei F. Ho, Wai-Lee D. Ling, and Kevin M. McBride, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,128,619;
Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/067,292, entitled xe2x80x9cA USER INTERFACE FOR CREATING PROGRAM SPECIFICATIONS FOR ACCESSING DATABASE PERSISTENT OBJECTS,xe2x80x9d filed on Nov. 26, 1997, by Mark A. Bach, In Ha Chung, John K. Flanigan, Candace A. Garcia, Judith E. Hill, Steve T. Kuo, Theresa H. Lai, Kevin M. McBride, and H. Moncrief Rowe-Anderson;
Utility Application Ser. No. 09/042,238, entitled xe2x80x9cA USER INTERFACE FOR CREATING PROGRAM SPECIFICATIONS FOR ACCESSING DATABASE PERSISTENT OBJECTS,xe2x80x9d filed on Mar. 13, 1998, by Mark A. Bach, In Ha Chung, John K. Flanigan, Candace A. Garcia, Judith E. Hill, Steve T. Kuo, Theresa H. Lai, Kevin M. McBride, and H. Moncrief Rowe-Anderson, which claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. xc2xa7119(e) of Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/067,292 above now U.S. Pat. No. 6,128,622;
Utility Application Ser. No. 08/949,638, entitled xe2x80x9cA USER INTERFACE FOR CREATING CLASS DEFINITIONS AND IMPLEMENTATIONS FOR DATABASE PERSISTENT OBJECTS,xe2x80x9d filed on Oct. 14, 1997, by Mark Alan Bach, Shyh-Mei F. Ho, Kevin Michael McBride, H. Moncrief Rowe-Anderson and Thomas Beavers Sander, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,924,101,
Utility Application Ser. No. 08/775,606, entitled xe2x80x9cIMS/WWW MAPPING SYSTEM,xe2x80x9d filed on Dec. 31, 1996, by Mark Alan Bach, In Ha Chung, Judith E. Hill, Steve T. Kuo, Theresa H. Lai, Allen G. Lee, and Richard S. Uyehara, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,781,739;
Utility Application Ser. No. 08/736,762, entitled xe2x80x9cA FRAMEWORK FOR OBJECT-ORIENTED ACCESS TO NON-OBJECT-ORIENTED DATABASES,xe2x80x9d filed on Oct. 25, 1996, by Kenneth R. Blackman and Jack L. Howe III, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,799,313,
Utility Application Ser. No. 08/736,763, entitled xe2x80x9cA METHOD FOR REPRESENTING NON-OBJECT-ORIENTED DATABASES USING A COLLECTION OF COLLECTIONS DATA MODEL,xe2x80x9d filed on Oct. 25,1996, by Kenneth R. Blackman and Jack L. Howe III, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,794,248;
Utility Application Ser. No. 08/738,294, entitled xe2x80x9cA METHOD FOR THE INCREMENTAL PRESENTATION OF NON-OBJECT-ORIENTED DATABASES USING AN OBJECT-ORIENTED QUERYABLE DATABASE COLLECTION,xe2x80x9d filed on Oct. 25, 1996, by Kenneth R. Blackman and Jack L. Howe III, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,781,907;
Utility Application Ser. No. 08/738,104, entitled xe2x80x9cA QUERY SYNTAX FOR ACCESSING NON-RELATIONAL, NON-OBJECT-ORIENTED DATABASES,xe2x80x9d filed on Oct. 25, 1996, by Kenneth R. Blackman and Jack L. Howe III, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,778,379;
Utility Application Ser. No. 08/738,082, entitled xe2x80x9cA QUERY PARSER FOR ACCESSING NON-RELATIONAL, NON-OBJECT-ORIENTED DATABASES,xe2x80x9d filed on Oct. 25, 1996, by Kenneth R. Blackman and Jack L. Howe III, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,778,358;
Utility Application Ser. No. 08/738,330, entitled xe2x80x9cA METHOD FOR USING A DATABASE CURSOR FOR THE INCREMENTAL PRESENTATION OF QUERY RESULTS WHEN TRAVERSING IMPLIED COLLECTIONS IN NON-OBJECT-ORIENTED DATABASES,xe2x80x9d filed on Oct. 25, 1996, by Kenneth R. Blackman and Jack L. Howe III, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,787,436;
Utility Application Ser. No. 08/736,759, entitled xe2x80x9cA METHOD FOR REPRESENTING DATA FROM NON-RELATIONAL, NON-OBJECT-ORIENTED DATABASES AS QUERYABLE DATABASE PERSISTENT OBJECTS,xe2x80x9d filed on Oct. 25, 1996, by Kenneth R. Blackman and Jack L. Howe III, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,794,247;
Utility Application Ser. No. 08/736,764, entitled xe2x80x9cA METHOD FOR ENCAPSULATING DATA FROM NON-OBJECT-ORIENTED DATABASES AS DATABASE PERSISTENT OBJECTS,xe2x80x9d filed on Oct. 25, 1996, by Kenneth R. Blackman and Jack L. Howe III, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,765,161;
Utility Application Ser. No. 08/738,103, entitled xe2x80x9cA METHOD FOR USING QUERYABLE PERSISTENT IDENTIFIERS TO LOCATE DATA FOR DATABASE PERSISTENT OBJECTS IN NON-OBJECT-ORIENTED DATABASES,xe2x80x9d filed on Oct. 25, 1996, by Kenneth R. Blackman and Jack L. Howe III, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,765,163;
Utility Application Ser. No. 08/736,983, entitled xe2x80x9cA METHOD FOR INTERFACING QUERYABLE DATABASE PERSISTENT OBJECTS TO NON-RELATIONAL, NON-OBJECT-ORIENTED DATABASES,xe2x80x9d filed on Oct. 25, 1996, by Kenneth R. Blackman and Jack L. Howe III, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,761,671;
Utility Application Ser. No. 08/736,952, entitled xe2x80x9cA METHOD FOR MANAGING QUERYABLE DATABASE PERSISTENT OBJECTS AND QUERYABLE DATABASE COLLECTIONS IN AN OBJECT-ORIENTED ENVIRONMENT,xe2x80x9d filed on Oct. 25, 1996, by Kenneth R. Blackman and Jack L. Howe III, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,765,162;
Utility Application Ser. No. 08/736,765, entitled xe2x80x9cA METHOD FOR CATALOGING DATABASE CHARACTERISTICS AND DEFINING AND GENERATING DATABASE PERSISTENT OBJECTS,xe2x80x9d filed on Oct. 25, 1996, by Kenneth R. Blackman and Jack L. Howe III, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,737,597;
Utility Application Ser. No. 08/736,922, entitled xe2x80x9cA METHOD FOR CATALOGING DATABASE CHARACTERISTICS AND DEFINING AND GENERATING DATABASE PERSISTENT OBJECTS,xe2x80x9d filed on Mar. 25,1998, by Kenneth R. Blackman and Jack L. Howe III, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,809,508, which is a continuation of Utility Application Ser. No. 08/736,765 above;
Utility Application Ser. No. 08/736,922, entitled xe2x80x9cA METHOD FOR CAPTURING AND CATALOGING DATABASE CHARACTERISTICS TO DEFINE DATABASE PERSISTENT OBJECTS,xe2x80x9d filed on Oct. 25, 1996, by Kenneth R. Blackman and Jack L. Howe III, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,809,508;
Utility Application Ser. No. 08/738,102, entitled xe2x80x9cA METHOD FOR CAPTURING AND CATALOGING SPECIFICATIONS FOR DATABASE PERSISTENT CLASSES,xe2x80x9d filed on Oct. 25, 1996, by Kenneth R. Blackman and Jack L. Howe III, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,737,598;
Utility Application Ser. No. 08/738,105, entitled xe2x80x9cA METHOD FOR USING A NON-OBJECT-ORIENTED DATABASE AS A GENERIC PERSISTENT DATABASE FOR PERSISTENT OBJECTS,xe2x80x9d filed on Oct. 25, 1996, by Kenneth R. Blackman and Jack L. Howe III, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,809,509; and
Utility Application Ser. No. 08/736,761, entitled xe2x80x9cA METHOD FOR CAPTURING AND CATALOGING PROGRAM CHARACTERISTICS FOR THE USAGE OF DATABASE PERSISTENT CLASSES,xe2x80x9d filed on Oct. 25, 1996, by Kenneth R. Blackman and Jack L. Howe III, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,764,979;
all of which applications are incorporated by reference herein.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to computerized methods for accessing databases, and in particular, to a generic execution model for isolating application programs from the structure and operations of the underlying data.
2. Description of Related Art
It is well known in the art to use database management systems, such as IBM""s IMS(trademark) (Information Management System) database management system, to manage computerized databases. Indeed, IMS(trademark) has been used for decades and remains in use today. Currently, there is a need to access such xe2x80x9clegacyxe2x80x9d databases using application programs developed by object-oriented programming systems (OOPS). However, there are few tools available to assist OOPS developers.
One method for allowing object-oriented application programs to access data in an IMS(trademark) database is through transaction wrappering, implemented in such products such as IBM""s VisualAge(trademark) IMS Connection. Transaction wrappering creates a class having methods that retrieve data from the IMSTM database, create an object embodying the retrieved data, and manipulate the object in an object-oriented application program. The problem with this approach is that each object-oriented application requires substantial additional coding, both object-oriented and nonobject-oriented, before it is able to access the data in the IMS(trademark) database.
Another approach to accessing data in a non-relational, non-object-oriented database is to translate the non-relational database to a relational database, and use existing object-oriented programming techniques developed for relational databases to access the data therein. The problem with this approach is that non-relational data, such as the hierarchical data found in an IMST4 database, does not map well to a relational database.
Thus, there is a need in the art for improved techniques for accessing hierarchical data using object-oriented frameworks.
To overcome the limitations in the prior art described above, and to overcome other limitations that will become apparent upon reading and understanding the present specification, the present invention discloses a method, apparatus, and article of manufacture for accessing a database, wherein the database is modeled as an objects framework having zero or more business objects and one or more data objects. The data objects represent data in the database and the business objects represent logic for operating on the data objects.
Various advantages and features of novelty which characterize the invention are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed hereto and form a part hereof. However, for a better understanding of the invention, its advantages, and the objects obtained by its use, reference should be made to the drawings which form a further part hereof, and to accompanying descriptive matter, in which there is illustrated and described specific examples of an apparatus in accordance with the invention.